


Year One: New Beginnings

by darkesky, timerise



Series: THE TREE [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Harry Potter - Freeform, Hogwarts, M/M, Marauders, jily, marauder era, wolfstar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-24
Updated: 2019-02-02
Packaged: 2019-10-15 09:04:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17525786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkesky/pseuds/darkesky, https://archiveofourown.org/users/timerise/pseuds/timerise
Summary: From being sorted to discovering a 'furry little problem', the marauders experienced it all together. By each other's side, they grew from children to the men we all know today... This is the story of how.





	1. Chapter 1. James

Excitement wasn’t the right word for James. Excitement would imply that he wasn’t completely over the moon about anything magic related at this point. He couldn’t contain all his emotion, so it brimmed over in the way that the lanky eleven year old bounced his knees while he sat on the bench with his parents, waiting for the  _ Hogwarts Express.  _ It seemed little more than a dream before now, but here he was! 

Euphemia and Fleamont Potter sat on either side of him, both as supportive and nervous as any set of parents could be expected to be. After all, they knew their James was a bit of trouble. Both of them had attended Hogwarts, so they figured it would straighten him out. Nevertheless, the little family of three all sat, waiting for the train.

The sound of shrieking wheels on metal alerted the crowd at the King’s Cross station, platform 9 ¾ that their wait was over. That looming, resplendent train came to a slow stop exactly where it needed to be. It was bigger than James thought it would be, he admitted privately. Just as amazing. He tugged on his mother’s sleeve. 

“It’s time to go Mama, c’mon! I gotta get my bags in!”

Euphemia nodded dumbly and looked at her husband. It was finally happening! Their son was going to be a wizard like themselves. And despite their worries they just knew he would be great. Together, the Potters gathered all of James’s belongings into his arms. 

“Now, I expect a weekly letter, you hear me? And do take care of Hedwig, she’s not invincible.”

“Of course, mother! I love you guys!”

Then he was on the train and away. James dragged his bags down the rocky hall, looking for a near empty room at least. Eventually he came to a compartment where the only occupant was an incredibly well groomed boy with jet-black hair that fell to about his shoulders. He slouched in the corner of the compartment, legs sprawled out and draped over his suitcase. In his hands, he idly flipped through a copy of the  _ Daily Prophet,  _ but judging by the way his eyes lazily skip around, he wasn’t truly reading it. 

James yanked open the door with a grin. “Hello! Mind if I sit?”

“Uh, yeah. The seat’s open.” The boy quickly attempted to school his surprise into cool indifference.

“Great.” James threw his bags in with all the elegance of an elephant attempting to do the same. He sat on the bench across from the boy, right by the window. He made a lame attempt at organizing his suitcases, making sure Hedwig was fine, before holding his hand out to shake. “My name is James Potter.”

“Sirius…” The other boy hesitated before offering a lopsided smirk. “Sirius Green.”

James took the initiative to shake his hand vigorously. “Pleasure to meet you! That’s what my mom says I should say anyways.” James was doing a bad job at hiding his excitement. He had been waiting for this moment for years! On a train to a faraway place, making new friends, he couldn’t have asked for a better time.

Sirius laughed slightly. “Excited for school? With the glasses, you definitely look like a Ravenclaw.”

James flushed. That would be  _ so cool.  _ “You think?” He grinned. He couldn’t tell if it was supposed to be an insult. “Frankly, I’m more excited about the spells to learn. And flying! I hear that next year we’ll get to play Quidditch!”

“Quidditch is gonna  _ rock.”  _ Sirius shrugged. “But spells and stuff kinda seems boring. Duelling, though…”

James remembered a conversation he’d had with his mother roughly a week before.  _ “Absolutely no duelling, you hear me James Potter?” _

“Sounds like a blast,” James finished his statement. “Do you know any spells already?”

He went to say something before shaking his head. “Nothing interesting. Just, like, opening doors.” 

James sighed in quiet relief. “Okay, me neither.” He looked into the sharp blue eyes of this other boy, Sirius. “What house do you think you’ll be in?”

“Anything but Slytherin,” he instantly said. “Personally, I don’t feel particularly evil.”

James looked a little shocked. “Oh no, are they evil? My mama says I might be a Slytherin.”

“Nah, you’re  _ definitely  _ a Ravenclaw. Or a Gryffindor.” Sirius dramatically crossed his heart before grinning. “I swear.”

James smiled. This Sirius was pretty cool. “Thanks. That would be snazzy.” 

“If you make Gryffindor, you’ll need to lose the glasses.” He squinted his eyes at James for a few seconds before leaning back against the wall. “And maybe get some muscle mass.” 

“Hey! I like my glasses. Plus, I totally have muscles!” James flexed, displaying how  _ just how much  _ muscle mass he had. So… not very much.

Sirius nodded solemnly. “You’re right.”

James beamed. “Sure. Hey, what do you know about Quidditch teams?”

Sirius’s face lit up. “Well, okay, so the-”

Suddenly, an older student with skin the near exact color of ice opened their door. 

“Sirius,” he hissed. “There you are. Cissa was wondering. Oh look, you’ve made a friend. Are they…” He gave Sirius a pointed look. James was confused, was he what?

Sirius ducked his head and nodded slightly. “Yeah… Can I just stay here?” 

The boy narrowed his dark eyes. “I suppose. Meet up with us at the Banquet. We have a spot reserved for you at the table. Make sure you’re making the correct  _ choices,  _ Sirius. And I apologize, new friend. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Rodolphus Lestrange.” The older boy held out a pale hand.

James shuddered inside. His parents had told him about the Lestranges. He figured it would be rude not to, so he shook the clammy, thin hand of Rodolphus. 

“James. James Potter.”

“Ah,” the boy smiled. “A pureblood. So Sirius wasn’t lying. Well, enjoy your ride, boys. Hope to see you both at the table.” With that, Rodolphus left, a cold spot in his wake.

Sirius stared at the door, silently whispering something. Then, he scrubbed a hand over his face and glanced back at James. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think…”

James wracked his brain for anything his parents had told him about this group. There was a tight knit family group of the Lestranges, Malfoys, and… he couldn’t remember the other one. It would come to him.

“Your last name is not Green,” James deduced. “Are you… a Lestrange?”

“Hell no. I just… Look, does it matter?” Sirius squirmed in his seat, subtly pulling his bag closer and starting to clamber to his feet.

James shook his head. “No, I don’t care one way or another. You seem like a… cool guy. You never told me about your favorite team?”

Sirius stared at him for a few seconds before a tiny smile crossed his face. Then, he started gushing about some Scottish team James didn’t  _ really  _ support.

James listened intently and the two of them talked excitedly for the rest of the ride.

* * *

Time passed in a flash. Before he knew it, he and his new friend were being shepherded onto what looked like a rowboat. Some helper person had come around to gather their belongings, but James held onto Hedwig. He wanted some constant in the changing world.

He sat next to Sirius with all the other first years. Behind them were the train tracks and the port. Before them was the looming castle of Hogwarts. Real at last! He was brimming with joy and nerves.

Sirius nudged him. “Stop drooling.”

James shook his head. “I can’t, d’you see that castle? I’ve dreamed of this for so long.”

“It’s gonna be great,” he said quietly before glancing back at the castle. “You’re gonna be living in one of those  _ massive  _ towers. That’s insane.”

“And you?” James looked over at his new friend. 

He shrugged. “I’m pretty sure I’m destined for the dungeons, so…”

James grinned. “If what you said about Slytherins is true, there’s no chance. You’re not evil! You’re cool!” 

“I…” Sirius made a face. “But, like, every Black is in Slytherin. Oh shoot, wait, you don’t know that. Crap.” He immediately hung his head and groaned in his hands. “I was doing  _ so well  _ with the secret identity thingie.”

James laughed. “I told you, I don’t care. If you’re the kind of person who wouldn’t want people to know about that, then you can’t be like the rest of ‘em. Anyways, I won’t tell.”

“Everyone will know soon enough. How do you think they sort us? Mother said some stuff, but… I don’t really believe it.” 

“My mama said they do a ceremony where they ask you stuff like your favorite ice cream and that tells your personality! Papa said only Hufflepuffs say vanilla, so don’t say that.”

Sirius laughed instantly. “I won’t. Hufflepuffs are  _ lame.” _

“Maybe they’re just real nice.” James finally decided to look around the boat at the other first-years. Some people that stood out to him were a greasy looking, droopy faced boy with black hair, a girl with flowy red hair and big… green… eyes… James swallowed thickly and continued. There was a chubby little kid with blond-ish hair, and another boy with sorta curly light brown hair and a big scar across his nose. Interesting lot.

Sirius noted his gaze, following it to the girl. He grinned, nudging James slightly, before clearing his throat. “I heard there’s a squid in the water. Who wants to jump to find out?”

James burst out laughing. Less at the comment, and more at everyone’s horrified faces. Especially the girl.

“I don’t really think that’s a smart idea,” the girl said after a second. She wrinkled her nose at the two of them and turned to stare at the castle.

James tried to rock the boat a little to make it seem like there was something in the water. “Uh-oh! Uh-oh! What’s that?”

The driver of the boat looked sternly down at him and told him to cut that out. He did, but not before grinning at Sirius.

“You’re obnoxious,” the girl said, glaring at him. She rubbed at the sleeves of her coat, trying to flick off the stray water droplets.

Sirius laughed. “Big word. Look, James, there’s another Ravenclaw… She’s not even wearing glasses.”

James scoffed. “If Ravenclaws aren’t up for chasing down a squid in pitch-black waters, I’m not sure I’m one of them.”

The boy with the scars raised his hand without looking up from his book. “Under those parameters, I’m definitely one.”

Giving James a long look, Sirius abruptly snagged the glasses off his face and lunged across the boat. It rocked ominously under the shifting weight before he kneeled in front of the boy. “Put them on. I feel like the scars make you cool like a Gryffindor, but like, reading is a nerd-like thing to do.”

The boy looked down with yellow-tinted eyes at Sirius. He made sure the glasses were safely on his face before smacking Sirius lightly with the book he was holding. “Yes, I think they look quite nice.” He took them off and held them out to James. “Couldn’t have these beauties in the peripheral damage of my book attack.”

James couldn’t help but grin and take them, looking down at Sirius who didn’t look injured in the slightest. Sirius pouted dramatically. “Fine, okay, gang up on me. I’ll feed you to the squid first, James.”

James rolled his eyes. “You couldn't get close to me! I know… Kung-Fu!”

“Please don’t fight in the boat, this is a new sweater!” the chubby boy exclaimed, shifting away from their impending fight.

Dramatically, Sirius pointed at him. “Hufflepuff. I’m calling it right now.” 

The boy shifted uncomfortably. “Maybe. So what?” 

James looked across the boat at their audience. He didn’t know anyone’s names. “Everyone!” He stood up shakily, before the driver could tell him not to. “My name is James Potter! What are yours? You first!” He pointed at the greasy kid who hadn’t spoken yet.

The redhead glowered at him, shifting to protect her… Friend? “Why would we want to speak to you? All you’ve done is rudely  _ stereotype  _ us and try and tip the boat.”

James rolled his eyes. “Okay, so those two aren’t participating.” He sat down. “What about you?” He asked the boy with the scars and the sand-colored hair.

“Remus Lupin,” the kid smiled softly. “Your friend is…” He asked, gesturing towards Sirius.

Sirius puffed out his chest dramatically. “Awesome.  _ Spectacular.” _

“Annoying,” muttered the girl.

“Settled. We’ve got James and Annoying.” Remus smiled at the nameless girl.

“I’m Peter Pettigrew,” the chubby one spoke up.

Sirius clapped his hands together. “Those are some  _ wicked  _ names. Sure you don’t want to join our gang, Miss…?”

“Lily,” she finally grumbled. “Lily Evans.”

“Lily Evans!” James chirped. “Pleasure to meetcha. And this other, lovely feller…” James looked pointedly at the greasy kid.

The greasy kid glared at him. “Severus Snape.”

“And that’s the whole group! What are we thinking, Sirius?” James nudged his friend.

Sirius hummed dramatically. “I think we’ll never see at  _ least  _ two of these people again. Too cool to interact with Hufflepuffs, you know?”

James frowned a little. “Hey, be cool. We just met these guys,” He whispered. They could decide later if they wanted to make these people their friends or not.

Lily glared at him. “Is it  _ impossible  _ for you to be nice? Every house is equal.”

James can’t help himself. “Did you read that somewhere, Evans? I bet you did.”

“Actually, I did. Why?” She narrowed her eyes and lifted her chin, daring him to say something. 

James bit his lip, deciding. “Never mind.”

Severus gave them a dark look before leaning in and whispering something to Lily, gesturing at Sirius. Sirius bristled before pointedly looking away.

James subtly moved closer to his new friend, protective. “Are you guys excited for classes?” He asked.

“Nerd,” mumbled Sirius, nudging his leg.

“Goth,” he nudged Sirius back.

“I’m excited for Defense Against the Dark Arts,” Remus spoke up.

Lily pointedly scooted closer to Remus before nodding. “I just think Charms will be fun… Or Potions.”

He warmed up to her at that. “I heard that Professor Flitwick is a good teacher.”

“I don’t know much about Hogwarts. Just that…” Lily paused, trying to find the words. Then, she offered a smile to James. “Well, just that Flitwick is a good teacher now.”

The rest of the ride was nothing spectacular. When they entered the castle, however, it was a different story. It was lit up like a Christmas tree, with ghosts flying around and people doing magic right and left. James couldn’t believe his eyes. It was like his parent’s parties but bigger and with kids!

Sirius leaned in. “We’re gonna have to go alphabetical. So, I’m going to go  _ now,  _ and you can just pretend you didn’t know who I was when they ask. Everyone else on that boat wouldn’t have a  _ good  _ impression of my family, y’know?”

“Course not, Sirius. I won’t say anything.” James crossed his heart like Sirius had before.

At the front of the hall, a woman gets to the front and smiles serenely at them all. “Welcome to Hogwarts. Get into a line by alphabetical order, and we can begin the Sorting. Your headmaster will be in shortly… Meanwhile, I have someone who can explain the houses better than I can.”

To the surprised gasps and murmurings of the first-years, she placed a raggedy hat upon a wooden stool. The professor offered a tight smile before walking off to the side, pulling up a list of names while the hat began to…  _ Sing?  _

James knew he definitely should be paying attention but he wasn’t. Not even a little bit. He was looking around with wonder. This place… was incredible. He never wanted to leave. He numbly noticed the people begin to get sorted. He made sure to pay attention then, watching as Sirius stepped up.

The second he sat down, Sirius’s fingers curled tightly against the stool, his grip hard enough to turn his knuckles white. He closed his eyes and mumbled something beneath his breath as the hat sat down on his head. It only took a second for it to bellow out  _ ‘GRYFFINDOR’  _ though.

Sirius’s face lit up. Then, he glanced at the Slytherin table where his family sat in silence, and his expression fell. He shuffled over to the Gryffindor table, the first to be sorted there.

James immediately felt bad. But also not. He knew Sirius wasn’t a Slytherin! He watched Lily go up some time later. She sat down on the chair and straightened her spine, looking across the tables with quiet intrigue. The Slytherins booed her almost instantly. Ever since the war began, his mama warned him they were being  _ bolder  _ about purity.

They all stood in silence as they waited. After around two minutes, which might as well as been  _ forever,  _ Lily’s face shifted into understanding and she nodded slightly. The hat seemed to smile. “GRYFFINDOR!”

James was a bit shocked. She did stand up for that Snape kid though… 

Remus was in the L’s, so it took a bit to get to him. James zoned off until he noticed Remus on the stool. The hat didn’t think long before sending him to the Gryffindor table as well. He went to sit between Sirius and Lily, who were bickering a bit.

James looked over to the table longingly. He decided then that he needed to be in Gryffindor. Three of his new friends were there! Well… at least two of them. He tried to catch Sirius’s eye before Peter went up. 

Sirius noted his gaze and winks, still a little shaky and pale.

Peter sat down on the stool, and the hat went on his head, and they waited. And waited.  _ And waited.  _ The whole time, Peter bit down on his lip and looked worried about whatever came. Finally,  _ finally,  _ it decided. With a meeker voice than usual, the Sorting Hat calls out. “GRYFFINDOR.”

James can’t help but cheer along with the rest of that table. That’s so cool! What’s even cooler, is that after just two people sent to Ravenclaw, it’s his turn.

His hands are shaky as he sits down but he knows he can be the best wherever the Sorting Hat puts him. As soon as that thought crosses his mind, the Hat yells out “GRYFFINDOR!” 

James hops down gleefully and rushes over to his table. He sits next to Sirius, feeling giddy. So giddy, he almost doesn’t notice Snape get sent to Slytherin. But he notices, and so does Lily.

Lily looked sad and glanced down at the table. Before James can try to reassure her, though, one of the other first-year girls cheerfully got to her feet and slid next to Lily. Within seconds, she was quietly laughing. 

James raised his glass, which was magically filled with a warm, yellow, bubbling drink. “Well, here’s to a great year!” He shouted.

Sirius grinned before clinking his glass against his. It took a few seconds before Peter and Remus did the same, and Lily simply rolled her eyes and looked away.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> leave kudos and comment uwu


	2. Chapter 2. Sirius

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> look who's back! please leave comments below so we can what to improve on AND if you have any scene you want written... ;)

His wand didn’t work, and Sirius was frustrated enough to  _ scream.  _ He spun it in his hand and tried to talk himself down from snapping it over his leg. It’s not even a  _ hard  _ spell. His wand just really,  _ really  _ hated him. It’s not really surprising considering his parents insisted he carried the ‘family name’ with him by bringing some great uncle’s he doesn’t care about.

“I’m going to quit school,” he hissed at Remus.

“No you’re not, you’re going to learn this spell out of spite,” Remus reminded him. The curly haired boy was sitting on the window sill of their dormitory, lanky legs pulled up to his chest.

Sirius scowled fiercely at him. “This spell makes no bloody sense!”

Remus makes eye contact finally, You can’t just say the words. You have to say them right, and have intent behind them.”

“Why would anyone ever  _ need  _ to transform a mouse into a goblet?” Sirius glared at the caged mouse for a few seconds. He stole it from the potions’ room considering Slughorn wasn’t exactly  _ observant.  _

Remus laughed at that, strangely. It wasn’t really funny. “School isn’t about practical usage, it’s about memorizing and a piece of paper after Year 7.”

“So what I’m hearing is that school  _ is  _ useless, and I  _ should  _ quit. Thanks, Remus.” He studied his wand one last time and muttered the spell under his breath. This time, it put off a fun array of sparks. A spell for fireworks? He’d learn that in a  _ heartbeat. _

Remus sighed and stood up. “No, c’mon Sirius. I’ll help you.” Remus crossed the room to stand by him. “I know you don’t  _ want  _ to do this. Which is why it’s not working. You have to at least pretend to want it for the magic to work.” 

“If this wand can apparently  _ read minds,  _ then why does it even need me?” he grumbled.

“Nonverbal magic is extremely difficult.” Remus circles Sirius, fixing various parts of his casting position. “There. Try again. And mean it.”

“I think I’ll probably die before I mean it. It’s literally… A mouse into a  _ goblet?  _ That’s pointless. You know what? I’m going to go see what James is doing.” Sirius went to step around him, but Remus immediately stopped him.

“Sirius. Look, if you can get this spell down, I’ll show you a secret.” 

Giving his friend one last  _ long  _ look, Sirius groaned and readjusted his stance as Remus told him. The second he can buy a new wand, he’s going to. The problem was that he would still  _ hate  _ this schoolwork. It just… It wasted  _ time.  _ He could be doing better things. But hey, he  _ wanted  _ to impress Remus and he  _ wanted  _ to see Remus’ secret so… He can  _ want  _ this mouse to be a bloody goblet. 

After saying the spell, he made sure to close his eyes. He doesn’t want to see the disappointment on his friend’s face.

“Sirius! You did it!” Remus grabbed his shoulder excitedly and pointed to the table. 

He stared at the goblet for a few seconds before turning to Remus. “Wait, so is the mouse dead?” 

Remus opened his mouth to say something before looking at the goblet. “I don’t know.”

“Can you turn  _ people  _ into goblets?” That would have  _ great  _ practical applications. Next time Snivelly irritated James, he could just  _ zap him into a goblet. _

Remus looked excited. “They wouldn’t be able to turn themselves back! Because they don’t have wands! Or… maybe that’s what a curse breaker does. Like, turn goblets back into regular old blokes.”

“If we drank out of it, is it, like… You know what, never mind. I don’t want to know.” Sirius made a face.

“Me neither.” Remus took his hand off Sirius’s shoulder and walked over to his bed. “Come on here. I’m gonna show you my secret.”

“Forward much?” Sirius winked dramatically.

Remus flushed. “Bugger off. No, look here.” Remus crawled under his bed for a moment, then came back with a shoebox. He opened it to see the biggest, widest variety of chocolate that Sirius had ever seen.

“When did you have a chance to get  _ this?”  _ he cried out immediately. “How were you  _ hiding this?” _

Remus smirked at him, a more or less foreign expression on the boy. “That’s a secret for later.”

“I didn’t expect  _ you,  _ of all people, could keep secrets.” Sirius grabbed at one of the smaller chocolate bars. He doesn’t want to impose on Remus, but at the same time,  _ chocolate.  _ He could ruin relationships over chocolate.

“Go ahead. I suggest the ones with the red tin wrapping. They’ve got a warm drippy chocolate middle.”

“I don’t usually get chocolate.” Sirius immediately shoved it in his mouth, smiling widely. With his mouth full, he continued joking around with him. “Like, it’s not a  _ proper thing  _ for the heir to do.”

Remus frowned a bit. “Well, you don’t have to be the heir to the Black family fortune with me. You can just be Sirius.”

“Well, as long as I get chocolate, I’m in.” He plopped back down on Remus’ bed and shoved the box of chocolates back at Remus. “Come on. If we’re gonna stay in here all day  _ anyway,  _ we gotta do it in style.”

Remus shifted on his bed to face Sirius. “I think I’d like to learn to enchant candy. Like, make chocolate  _ literally _ melt in your mouth when you eat it.

“See,  _ that’s  _ a good use of magic. I can’t wait to visit  _ Lupin’s Chocolate Shop  _ when we grow up.” Sirius grinned. “I better get a discount though.”

“Oh, I won’t be a candy maker. No sir! I just think it would be a nice skill to have. What do you want to do when you grow up?” Remus unwrapped a bar of blue chocolate and popped it in his mouth.

Sirius shrugged slightly. “I don’t know.”

“What are you interested in?”

He stared for a few seconds. “I don’t really know. Nobody ever asked me before.”

“I’m glad to be the first then. I think you could be a cool Auror maybe. Or like, a wizard detective.”

“That sounds cool. What about you?”

“I was thinking… I don’t know. Maybe an arch… archaeologist? I think that’s how you say it.”

“I like the sound of that. Tell me more.” While Sirius couldn’t even begin to  _ guess  _ what that career is, it sounded nerdy enough for Remus.

Remus’s eyes light up. “I just- I love history! There’s so much I don’t know! And I heard that an archaeologist gets to discover history before anybody else!” He rambles on like that, face alight and hands flapping in a way Sirius hadn’t seen before from him.

“I think you’ll be a brilliant archaeologist.” He nudged him gently.

Remus smiled wide. “I think you’ll be bloody fantastic in whatever you do.”

“Then we’re decided.” Sirius straightened up on the bed, suddenly aware just how close they got. Then, he shrugged slightly and leaned back against the headboard. He hasn’t really had friends before, but he was certain this was how friends acted. “We’ll both be  _ wildly  _ happy and successful, and we’ll be friends still.”

Remus squirms excitedly. “By then maybe it’ll be okay for-” He seemed to grow immediately aware of himself and quieted. Guilt plagued his features. “For… me to eat chocolate a lot…” 

“I’m sure it’s okay to eat a lot of chocolate now.” He scrunched up his nose, thinking. How often did they really discuss  _ Remus’  _ family? James gushed about how amazing his parents were, and nobody could disagree. Sirius made comments about his family and sometimes, his friends just looked  _ so sad  _ he shut up about it really quick. But Remus offered nothing but he might need to return home later in the month to visit his parents.

“You’re right,” he chuckled nervously. “We’re doing that now, aren’t we?”

“Don’t your parents send these to you? If they’re chill with it, then everyone  _ has  _ to be.” Sirius, in an attempt to avoid the anxious expression crossing his friend’s face, grabbed another bar of chocolate.

“Yes, they did. They told me to eat it slowly… but I figure I can restock at Hogsmeade.” 

Sirius nodded. “I need to go pick up stuff for Reg anyway. He sent me a letter the other day about how  _ bored  _ he is.”

“How old is he again?”

“He’s  _ tiny.  _ Nine years old… He’ll come up to Hogwarts when we’re both third years.” Sirius smiled fondly. He wasn’t exactly sure how Regulus got away with writing him letters. Both of his parents already wrote how disappointed they were about his sorting. But Regulus consistently snuck behind his parents’ backs, and they never seemed to notice.

Remus cocked his head. “He sounds fun?”

“He’ll never talk to you.” The words slipped out before he could stop them, and Sirius flinched at the cruelness of them. His thoughts just…  _ Left through his mouth.  _ He knew Regulus probably wouldn’t speak with him either. 

Remus looked terrified for a moment. “I… how do you… how does he… know?”

“Because Lupin isn’t one of the  _ families  _ we’re allowed to associate with. Potter barely is either, but he’s the only one I can write about without getting, like,  _ blasted off the wall.”  _ A grim laugh left his mouth before he sighed.

Remus let out a shaky sigh. “Yeah. I- definitely. Forgot.”

“Forgot what?” He cocked his head. “That everyone in my family don’t  _ associate with your kind?  _ Yeah, I wish I could.” 

Remus’s eye twitches for a moment before he nods slowly. “Well, you seem different. Which is good. For me. And I think you, too.”

“You sure?” He forced a smile, and the second the words were out, he knew the joke would fall flat. “Won’t you get sick of me?”

Remus shook his head quickly. “Not at all! I think you’re so cool!”

“You’re not too bad yourself. I’m really glad you’re, like, my first friend. You’re so much better than all of the other people like Rodolphus.” 

Remus flushed and ducked his head. “You really think?”

“Yeah. Definitely.” 

Remus smiled big, cheeks scrunching so that the scar across his face crinkled. “You too. Also. I think- yes.” 

Just then, the door opened. James Potter stepped through, yelling like he’s been personally-victimized by a hornet’s nest. “I WILL HEX EVERY HUFFLEPUFF IN THIS CASTLE, SO HELP ME!”

Sirius rolled his eyes at Remus before getting to his feet. “What happened?”

“Some fourth year tried to tell me that the Brownbay Bowglies are the worst quidditch team! And I told him he could go stuff his stupid bloody opinions up his- well, you know. He ratted me out to Slughorn and I got detention! Then- oh the worst part- bugger was waiting for me outside the detention room to ask me if I changed my mind! So I punched him and ran away and he chased me.” James caught his breath, leaning against the door.

Wrinkling his nose, Sirius groaned. “You  _ punched  _ him? Aren’t you a  _ wizard?  _ You could have hexed his mouth shut, and  _ then  _ he couldn’t say any bullshit anymore! Um… Sorry, Remus.”

Remus shrugged. “I hear it around my house enough.”

James seethed. “I haven’t learned the opinion-fixer hex yet. I only know a couple. I’m getting better, though.”

“Wait, did he rat you out to Slughorn about the punching too? He’ll dock you  _ major  _ points.” Sirius glanced over at Remus. “And I don’t really care if Gryffindor  _ wins,  _ but we gotta beat Slytherin.”

James shook his head. “No, as I was running I told him that if he said anything else that I’d pants him in front of the girls at Quidditch Practice. He’s on the Hufflepuff team apparently. Anyways, he won’t say anything to Slughorn.

“Hufflepuff’s losing  _ horribly.  _ Do they even get an opinion?” Sirius countered.

“I would say not. Remus?”

Remus thought for a minute. “Yes, but mostly just so they think they’re being heard.”

“When we’re on the quidditch team, we’ll have  _ good  _ opinions.” Suddenly spinning on his heel, he pointed dramatically at Remus. “What would you play?”

Remus stared blankly. “Scorekeeper? I can’t fly.” 

“Then you gotta learn!”

Remus seemed hesitant. “Depends on when the games would be.”

“I don’t know… Whenever they schedule them?” Sirius shrugged slightly. He didn’t really pay attention to the exact dates until they were literally tomorrow.

“I- yeah. I guess.”

“See? There we go! What would you be, James?” Eying his friend up, Sirius finally shook his head. “You wouldn’t survive as a beater.”

“No need. I’ll be the best Seeker this school has ever seen.” 

“Seekers are  _ lame.  _ I don’t know what I want, but it’s not that.” Sirius plopped back on the bed, dramatically sighing.

James grinned. He took a running start to jump and land lying on top of Sirius. “Dogpile! Get over here, Remus!”

“What? No! That’s not fair!” He squirmed under James’ weight, trying to buck him off. 

Remus gave a hoot of joy before landing with a thud on top of James. “I’m king of the hill!”

“You guys  _ suck,”  _ Sirius whined.

Peter came into the room then, confused. “Why is Sirius under the dog pile?”

“Because he was being too dramatic,” Remus explained.

Sirius managed to free his arm and sticking up his middle finger.

Remus high-fived his free hand. “Nice.”

 


	3. Chapter 3. Remus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so some chapters are gonna shorter, some are gonna longer... that's just how this book is going to go :), but next chapter will probably dig into some actual plot

It was thrilling, really, attending school here. Remus had grown up in a household where only half the adults (half being his father) could perform magic. So to be surrounded by all this, constant magic, was almost more than his little heart could stand. 

Despite the thought of the full moon looming in the back of his mind, he found that he was happier than he had ever been before. All he had to do was keep his lycanthropy secret for seven years, and he’d be set to go! 

Dumbledore had helped the Lupins set up a plan as well. Every full moon, Remus would go to “visit his family”. Really, he would go down to a little house with an entrance underneath the Whomping Willow, which would prevent other kids from following. The house could be seen, but it looked very haunted. Hopefully, that would discourage anyone from trying to enter. 

In truth, being in that house alone one night a month scared Remus, but he knew that Madam Poppy Pomfrey would come to get him in the morning and help him heal his wounds. That thought was nice. Maybe she would bring chocolate.

Remus entered the Charms class, five minutes earlier than everybody else. The only other student was a mousy Slytherin with her nose in a book. He sat in his usual seat and began the work on the board. A headstart was always nice! Besides, soon enough his friends would be here, and they were hard to get work done with.

“Remus!” To his surprise, the next person in was Lily Evans, sprinting to claim the spot next to him… The one usually reserved for Peter. “I need some help with understanding this reading. It’s a lot to digest, y’know?”

“Oh, sure! Which part?” Remus asked, pulling out his own book.

Lily smiled brightly before leaning over. “The part about the stance. Maybe I’m just bad with anatomy, but that seems really hard to maintain, and the book  _ specifies  _ it as being easy to keep up.”

“I agree, that part confused me at first. But there’s an asterisk at the bottom of the page! The book was written by a left-handed magician, and with every section on stance, he writes how to transpose it to right-hand.” Remus flipped to a page and pointed out the tiny font at the bottom.

She stared at it for a few seconds before letting out a light laugh. “Oh, I didn’t even  _ look  _ that. Wow, I didn’t think my biggest flaw was going to be being able to  _ read.” _

“Oh, hush Lily Evans! You’ve got to be the smartest first-year!” Remus laughed. “It was a weird note.”

“Poses  _ have  _ to be different for lefties, but funnily enough, I don’t think I’ve noticed anyone holding their wand with their left hands.” Lily rolled her wand idly in her hand.

“I mean, you’re not wrong,” Remus smiled.

James strolled in, Peter and Sirius flanking him like some cliche picture of a movie cover. “Ah, Re! There y’are.”

“Looks like your army’s here.” She rolled her eyes in their direction before getting to her feet, quickly moving away from the rest of his friends. 

Remus waved goodbye as his friends took their seats around him.

Sirius gave her an odd look. “What was Miss  _ Perfect  _ doing over here?”

Remus elbowed him lightly. “Take a guess, lad. I’m irresistible.”

“To  _ her?  _ I’m pretty sure she has a thing for Snivellus. Have you seen the way she  _ drools  _ over him?” Sirius made eye contact with Lily and made a face at her. The girl flipped her hair and returned to reading the textbook. 

James coughed out a laugh. “Yeah, she totally does. Also Sirius, nice! Snivellus is his new name. Suits that grease puddle well.”

“He practically  _ screams  _ Snivellus.” Sirius grinned.

Remus tried to hide a snort. “He also talks like he’s got a cold all the time.”

“So attractive,” chimed Peter.

Remus elbowed Sirius as Flitwick entered the room. “Shh, we gotta learn now.”

“That’s dumb,” he protested.

“Won’t be dumb when you’re failing your classes.” From then Remus refused to respond unless Sirius was genuinely asking about the work. He did end up getting a lot done. He felt like he was ahead enough to be able to take a break that night.

The whole time, though, Sirius decided to sneak around him to gossip with James. That would be an issue for later.

Class ended soon, and Remus gathered his books in a hurry. He would sooner yell openly about his lycanthropy before he was late for Transfigurations. He really did adore McGonagall! Remus thought she was the smartest old lady he knew.

“Look, Lily wants to  _ speak  _ with you,” teased Sirius, digging his elbow in Remus’ ribcage.

Remus looked over to see Lily leaning over her schoolwork but waving adamantly at him. He smiled and brought his book bag over to her desk. “Hey! Did this lesson make more sense?”

“Thank you  _ so much.”  _ Lily smiled slightly before pointing at James. “Did all of you do the work? McGonagall said if someone didn’t, we’d spend the day reading instead of doing anything practical.”

Remus decided not to voice that he wouldn’t mind that. He wanted to be  _ cool,  _ like James and Sirius.

Sirius shrugged. “Maybe I was busy last night.”

“Doing what?” Lily retorted hotly.

He paused before glancing over at Remus. A smirk spread across his face in an instant. “I don’t kiss and tell.” 

Remus snorted. “Or you don’t kiss at all.”

“Besides, none of the Gryffindor girls like you very much, and you’re a little too elitist for any other House.” She rolled her eyes before settling her gaze upon Peter. “How about you?”

Peter fidgeted a bit. “I mean, I read some of it.”

“But not  _ all  _ of it. McGonagall’s our head of house… Don’t you want to impress  _ her  _ even if you haven’t impressed any other teacher?” She shamelessly invested all of her attention on Peter, and the boy squirmed under the weight of her gaze.

“I- I mean, that would be nice…?” Peter looked at James to save him.

James had more or less become the unofficial leader of their group in just a few short weeks. He laughed. “C’mon guys, let’s go face Minerva.”

“It’s disrespectful to call her by her first name if she doesn’t want you to.” Lily got to her feet slowly to meet James face-to-face, blocking his path. “Besides, you have time before class starts. You could at least get started.”

James raised his chin up a bit. “Or I could face it like a  _ man.  _ Not that you’d know, Evans. C’mon Sirius.”

“What is  _ that  _ supposed to be? A jab at my friends or a jab at me? Because all I can see is a little kid trying to pose as a ‘man’?” Her eyes shone fiercely upon realizing who it was  _ probably  _ directed at. Remus learned, back when she fought with James at lunch, she always defended her friends.

Remus sighed, dragging his hand over his face. “Lily- 8. James- 6. Can we  _ go now?”  _

“Remus, didn’t you read it?” she asked after a pause.

“Of course I did!” Remus felt offended by that. What was he, a heathen?

Then, she looked smugly at James. “So, if your  _ roommate  _ can do it, why can’t you? Too busy making out with yourself in the mirror?”

James’s hands balled into fists. “Maybe I just didn’t feel like it!”

Remus knew, for a fact, that James did do the reading. But his friend had dug himself too deep in his hole to come out.

“Maybe I’ll just be so good that I already know it!” James huffed.

Lily laughed. “Please. Even if you  _ did  _ do the reading, you couldn’t use it correctly.”

James was practically fuming now. “You don’t know that! Besides, at least people actually like me!”

“I thought your  _ problem  _ with me was because of my  _ friends,”  _ she casually replied. Lily backed down and sat atop her desk, looking at him with a challenging smile.

James shook his head slowly. Remus felt bad for him, honestly. The wrath of Lily Evans was a hard one to bear. 

“Your… friends. Did you use a plural there? Because I thought you only had one.” With that, James stormed out of the room. Remus hoped he’d be cooled down enough to come to class on time.

Remus watched Sirius to see what he’d do. He still couldn’t make heads or tails of the boy. Sirius glanced between the door and Lily a few times before crossing his arms. “Great job.  _ Really.  _ Y’know, it doesn’t even matter if he didn’t do the reading, he’ll still be ahead of you because at least he picked up a wand before he turned  _ eleven years old.” _

Lily’s face flushed bright red immediately. “That’s not fair.”

“But that’s what happened, sweetie.” Sirius hurried to go find James, wherever he went.

Remus slumped in his chair. “Well. Anyways. Who wants to review before class?”

He was met with Peter’s blank stare.

“Awesome. See you guys in class, then.” Remus gathered his things once more and left for the library.

 


	4. Chapter 4. James

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> pompfrey's name is like the biggest bane of my existence.... HOW DO YOU SPELL IT? ;P

It was one of those terribly cold nights in the castle. The magically enchanted windows couldn’t seem to stop the frigid winds blowing through their dorm room. Winter was a rough time of course, but it seemed worse when you were travelling. 

The “you”, being Remus. Once a month, he would leave in the afternoon and come back the next day, claiming he was going to visit his aging grandparents or something. However, James couldn’t help but feel there was more to it than that. Was he secretly exploring the castle without them?

Neither of the other two boys seemed to mind. If anything, Peter relished the time when there was less people in the dorms, citing the fact he disliked changing in front of people and Sirius always hogged the bathroom. Sirius just shrugged and said Remus missing one day wouldn’t stop him in the long-run.

It was that afternoon, that cold afternoon, when James snapped. Remus was packing his overnight bag, and James needed to get confirmation. He casually walked over to Sirius’s bed. 

“I have a plan,” he whispered.

Sirius looked up from his magazine, wrinkling his nose. “What?” 

James checked over his shoulder, making sure Remus was fully preoccupied. “Tonight, we follow Remus out of the building. See what  _ exactly  _ he does every month. I think he’s meeting up with Slytherin girls!” James hissed excitedly. He didn’t actually think that, but he wanted to get Sirius on board and the mention of girls seemed like the way to do it.

Gaping, Sirius sent a betrayed look in Remus’ direction.  _ “What?  _ I thought he said he visited his, like, aging parents or something? He’s seeing  _ girls?  _ And  _ Slytherin  _ girls?” 

“I don’t know for sure. That’s my theory. Are you in?”

Looking one last time at Remus, Sirius nodded. “Yeah. Tell Peter he’s serving as the distraction tonight then. He can go, like, mess with McGonagall…  _ Or tell Peeves to start causing chaos for the Ravenclaws!” _

__ James snapped his fingers. “Brilliant! We’ll tell him the plan tonight. Oh boy, this is going to be so good!”

-

The time to move had rolled around. Peter was set in place to get Peeves’ attention, and Sirius moved out with James. They waited a few minutes for Remus to leave before following. The only problem was… they didn’t know exactly where Remus was going, so they didn’t know the best way to follow.

“I thought you said you had a  _ plan,”  _ hissed Sirius after Remus wished them goodbye and immediately… Well, they lost him immediately. 

“I did! And then Remus messed it up!” James pulled the cloak tighter around them. He knew Remus was probably on the grounds somewhere… The problem was that it was so bloody dark.

Sirius yanked his wand out of his robe’s pocket. “Isn’t there, like, a  _ Point-Me  _ spell Frank Longbottom taught us? Or is it not subtle enough?”

“I thought of that,” James sighed. “It’s too obvious.”

The two continued to walk, making their way onto the grass. Both of them froze as they heard… a wolf howl?

“Oh no… Remus could be in trouble!” James shouted.

Sirius darted out from underneath the cloak before letting out a yelp of sorts. When he started to skid to a stop, he called back to James. “The bloody Weeping Willow is  _ right there.”  _ Before he can properly catch himself, though, he went careening into the grass.

“Sirius!” James screamed. Sirius had fallen, and not gotten back up. James ran to where he last fell, dodging a surprisingly slow branch as he went. And there it was, a hole in the ground, with the sound of tumbling echoing from below.

James felt he did his best work when he wasn’t thinking. So he continued, throwing himself head forward into the hole. 

He fell for only a few moments before reaching the base. Sirius was there, with a finger to his lips, and pointing up at… a door? He had huddled in the corner, obviously trying to make him as small as possible. James quickly joined him, throwing the cloak over the two of them to make them  _ completely  _ invisible.

From the door came the sounds of animalistic panting. There was a pained whine, and then a crash.

“Bloody hell, what is that thing?” James asked, horrified.

Sirius slowly wrapped his hand around the doorknob. “If Remus is behind there, then we  _ have  _ to save him.” 

James nodded, swallowing thickly. He desperately hoped Remus was okay. As Sirius slowly opened the door, they looked into the room. It seemed like there was… nothing there. At all. The two boys stepped into the room, closing the door behind them.

It appeared as if they were in the lounge room of an old, scary house. There were long scratches on the walls, and horrifyingly enough, what looked to be blood stains all over. A piano sat in one corner with new sheet music, and the curtains had all been ripped off the walls and were sitting in tattered pieces all over the room. 

Sirius took a cautious step forward, ducking out from under the invisibility cloak once more. “Bloody hell.” 

From behind the two boys came a guttural roar. Despite their searching the room, they hadn’t looked back at the door, where a hulking monster now stood. Raised on its two hind legs, with greyish mottled fur flecked with blood, a werewolf stared down at Sirius, practically salivating. 

There was silence and still for a moment, the three of them frozen. James, in a moment of genius, threw off his cloak and shouted very loud, hoping to scare it.

It didn’t work. The monster threw him aside like he was a quaffle and raced towards Sirius, who had now broken into a run. James screamed and threw whatever he could find at it, but it seemed dead-set on Sirius. 

James found another door then, one that opened to a closet. “Sirius!” He screamed. “In here!”

Sirius raced towards James desperately, who had thrown the invisibility cloak into the closet as well. Just as he reached the door, the monster reached out for Sirius’s face, only managing to scratch his cheek before its arm was caught in the slammed door. The monster yelped and pulled it out, allowing James to close it fully and sit against it. 

Sirius curled his hand against his face, wincing when it pulled away red. “Is… It’s a werewolf, right?”

“Yeah. Sorta smaller than I thought they’d be, but yeah.” James felt the thing ram against the door, and whimper when it didn’t budge.

Sirius slowly slid down against the wall of the closet, wrapping his arms around his knees. “Is it… He would have said something, wouldn’t he?”

That… hadn’t even occurred to James. But, of course. It had to be true. Remus was a werewolf. “No, he wouldn’t have.”

“We’re friends,” he protested weakly. “I told you guys  _ everything.” _

__ James shook his head numbly. “He could get killed if people knew. There’s no way for him to have known if we would rat him out.”

“I just… We could have  _ helped  _ him. We could have done something! No wonder he’s always tired after this.” Sirius buried his face into his knees.

James sighed. “What could we have even done? We can’t stop the transformation. And everybody knows, werewolves are a huge danger to humans.” James, looking back, felt guilty about calling Remus, even in werewolf for, a monster. But that’s what he was, right? He hurt Sirius!

“Someone was going to find out…  _ We found out.  _ I mean, okay, so this isn’t the ideal situation.” Sirius laughed helplessly. “But someone’s gonna find out, and he’s going to need friends to cover for him or mislead them or teach him how to come up with more convincing lies than ‘sick grandparents’.”

They seemed to come to a mutual decision then. “We’ll stick with him. He shouldn’t go through this alone.” James looked at Sirius with determination.

“But how can we… Do we just come out and say ‘yo, we know about your furry little problem?’ He’s going to run away.” Sirius stared at the blood on his hand for a few seconds. “He’s gonna feel bad.”

“I think he’ll come to us. I think he’ll have to. We’re stuck in the closet.”

Gesturing at his invisibility cloak, Sirius lifted an eyebrow. “We could get away without him ever knowing.”

James stared him down. “Or, we could wait this out until morning, and talk to Remus once he’s back to- well y’know. Remus. I don’t think it’s safe to come out yet.” 

“We could sneak out after he leaves,” argued Sirius, but he already deflated a little. He must have known James was right despite his numerous arguments.

“No. We’re gonna stay and talk.” James held Sirius’s gaze. “It’s the right thing to do.”

“Then we’re in for a long night.”

Admittedly, it was a long night. Neither of them could sleep, as they’d start nodding off and some terrible noise would come from outside. Eventually, what was probably hours later, they heard what sounded to be the worst of all.

There was a pained howl coming from outside, and the sound of bones cracking in two. The sound continued for a few seconds, before the howling turned to crying. And then it was quiet, except for the muffled sound of the cries of a young boy. 

A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door. “I know you’re in there,” Remus said quietly. “I’m not gonna hurt you anymore. I promise. Please…”

Sirius stared at James, suddenly wide-eyed. He nodded towards the door, making it clear he wouldn’t be the one to open it. Then, he tried in vain to rub the blood from his wound off. However, since Sirius usually talked with his hands, and he couldn’t stop  _ touching  _ it, it ended up splattered on every article of clothing he was wearing. 

James rolled his eyes and shook his head. He sat up from the door and opened it. There stood Remus. He had long gauges on his side and looked like he’d never had a worse night. 

“I…” Remus’s gaze drifted over to Sirius. His eyes welled up with tears. “I’m really sorry,” he mumbled, voice cracking.

Sirius regarded him for a few seconds, chewing on his bottom lip. Then, faster than James had seen him all year, he sprung at Remus and tackled him into a hug. “It’s  _ nothing.”  _

Remus was really crying then, arms wrapped tight around his friend. James laughed and joined in, taking the three of them down to the floor. 

When they had finished their (unfortunately named) dogpile, Remus spoke up. “So, we do have to… I guess, talk about this. I hurt you guys because you were here tonight. You can’t… do that again. They call this the Shrieking Shack for a reason.”

James gasped. “Oh! I get it! Because you’re really loud as a werewolf and scary!” 

Remus grimaced. “Yeah. But… I promise, I promise so much- I won’t hurt you again. I didn’t mean to, I promise! Just… please don’t… leave.”

“That’s stupid.” Sirius gently pushed at him. “Why would we leave?”

“Well, sorta like James said. Once a month I’m a big scary monster who wants to eat people.”

James interrupts before Sirius can talk. “I didn’t mean-”

“This is  _ stupid,”  _ shouted Sirius over James. “I don’t know about James, but I know he’s not a prick. We didn’t really talk in the closet about that, ironically. But  _ anyway,  _ I’m not scared of you. Maybe it’s because I’m stupidly reckless, but I’m not.”

Remus smiled softly. “Even though I scratched your face?”

“It’ll look  _ wicked.”  _ Sirius grinned at him. “I’ll tell people I got into a fight with the giant squid.” 

Remus laughed at that. “Of course you will. And James?”

James grinned. “Are you kidding? We’re best friends now! I’m not gonna let that go just because you’ve got a little furry problem.”

“This is practically a blood oath.” Sirius nodded solemnly.

“Because you’re already bleeding!” James pointed out happily.

Eying Remus for a few seconds, he inched forward. “I’m not the only one bleeding. Do you need to go, like, to Pomfrey or something?”

Remus nodded. “She’ll be here soon, this happens every time. When I’m a werewolf, I feel like I gotta attack something. And when there’s nothing to attack I just kinda…” Remus lifts his arms to show to boys the scratches on his ribs. “I dunno, it’s weird. Just real violent.”

“Holy shit, wait, do we need to hide?” Sirius looked to James instantly.

“I don’t think so… I don’t think you’ll get in trouble,” Remus said. “If anything, it’ll just be because you snuck out. But I mean, you did it cause… well, I don’t know why you did it. Peter is a good liar, he can help.”

James slowly shrugged.

Sirius sighed dramatically. “If we lose house points for this, I’m fighting James. Like, James will be hexed into next  _ week.” _

James smirked. “You couldn’t get close.”

The door opened suddenly, making all three of them jump. “Remy, who do you- Boys! Wh…” Madam Pomfrey stood in the door, looking equal parts confused and accusatory.

“I didn’t do it!” Sirius threw up his hands immediately, trying and failing to repress a smirk.

Pomfrey crossed her arms. “It seems like both of you did… it. Remus, care to explain?”

Remus fidgeted with his shirt. “They were worried about me, Madam. They came looking for me. I accidentally got Sirius’s face a bit when they came in.”

Madam Pomfrey looked worried then. She crossed over to Sirius fussing a bit. “Alright, we’ll get you both fixed up soon. As well as discuss the consequences. Follow me, back to the castle!”

With that, she shepherded the three of them out the door. James shared a look with his two friends, knowing that even if they got in trouble, it was  _ definitely  _ worth it.    
  



	5. Chapter 5. Lily

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yep yep yep, lily finally came! and yes, Sirius keeps having weird flirtations with people

Lily knew she wasn’t  _ destined  _ for popularity. Her existence, somehow, insulted the Slytherins. She never really got a chance to interact with the Hufflepuffs because the one class she had with them, she was always preoccupied with talking with Remus. It was the one class she could split up the marauders after all. And Ravenclaws just… She always felt a little stupid around them.

But, she made a few friends and she  _ kept them.  _ Marlene McKinnon, who shared her dorm, became her best friend. Severus Snape, despite his house, remained being close friends. And Remus Lupin was too nice  _ not  _ to become close with.

James Potter, on the other hand, was a jerk, and she didn’t understand why Remus was friends with him. 

James was walking with Sirius as some poor third year Ravenclaw girl tripped on her own robes. The two howled with laughter doubling over in an obnoxious show.

Lily hurried to help her up, glaring at them all the while. “Do you  _ mind?” _

James caught his breath. “I so mind! Why don’t you hem your robes, Clementine?” He elbowed Sirius.

Before Sirius could speak, Lily spoke over him. “You know what? I don’t know why I bother with you guys. C’mon, Clementine, I’ll help you to class.”

The girl looked at Lily thankfully, picking up her robes off the floor to keep from tripping again. She gathered her books from the floor and allowed Lily to take some. “Thank you, Lily. Means a lot.”

“And James? Maybe some of us can’t just send our clothes home to our mums to mend them up.” She tossed the words over her shoulder, knowing it’ll provoke a new fight and not really caring.

She got the sense that Sirius had to physically restrain James from hexing her. She really doesn’t understand how the two of them ended up so  _ cruel.  _ From what she’s heard about James’ parents, they were the nicest people  _ ever.  _ And Sirius… Well, it just seemed like coming from good conditions meant you would be a good person.

The whole time she walked with Clementine, she resisted the urge to look over her shoulder. She wished she could walk away from this conflicts a little  _ cooler.  _ But every time, Lily wanted to see if her words actually made a difference.

After depositing Clementine near the Ravenclaw tower, she beelined for the library. Severus and her made plans to meet there  _ every  _ Wednesday. She still had all of her assignments to work through, and he usually could help her. After all, he was the one who  _ introduced  _ her to magic.

She heard a voice to her right. “Oh my  _ God  _ Evans can you  _ please  _ stop following me around?” James groaned. “She’s so annoying, Sirius.”

“Maybe she finally realized there are  _ better  _ people to moon over than Snivellus,” sneered Sirius.

Lily made a face down at her books but refused to make a retort. Who could have guessed James even  _ knew  _ where the library was?

“No, I don’t think she’s that smart just yet. Isn’t that right, Lily? You’re still hung up on that grease puddle?”

“Did you know you can have friends without wanting to snog them?” Lily paused, giving both of them a sharp look. “Well, I suppose you guys prove that most friends want to snog each other.” 

Sirius’ face immediately darkened.  _ “Excuse you?” _

“Nothing. I’m just saying your  _ longing  _ glances across the room aren’t exactly subtle.” With that, Lily tried to pick up the pace to get around them.

James practically snarled. “Did  _ you  _ know that you can have friends who aren’t disgusting and rude? No, I  _ suppose  _ you don’t.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t tell Peter you said that.” Can she just get to the library?

“You shouldn’t even  _ be  _ in Gryffindor. You should be in Hufflepuff, since you’re so  _ happy-go-lucky  _ and want just help everybody.” 

Lily gave him a strange look. “And I’m surprised you even made it  _ into  _ Hogwarts. You certainly don’t fit any house’s description.”

“I’m still stunned you have  _ any  _ magic,” Sirius snapped before turning around and giving up on going to the library. Probably running to Remus to mope, Lily thought bitterly. Why was he  _ friends  _ with such a bigot and a prat?

James was still angry though. “Where are you off to anyways? Going to shampoo Snivellus’s hair for once? I think he likes it greasy.”

“I’m going to study. You wouldn’t understand.” The walk to the library never felt this long  _ before.  _ Lily almost wanted to just go back to her dorm and complain to Marlene, but it would be losing whatever  _ this  _ was. Besides, Marlene had a crush on Sirius Black a mile long, and every time she complained about him, Marlene insisted his ‘pretty eyes’ made up for it. 

“Will Snape be there?” James sneered.

Lily nodded. “I wanted some  _ good  _ company.”

The door to the library was finally there, but James saw Severus before Lily did. He started acting… very interested in her, just by body language or whatever, and winked at Snape as they entered the library.

Lily purposefully stepped away. “Do you  _ mind?  _ Maybe, for a change, you could act like a decent person?” 

“I’m always a decent person,  _ cupcake,”  _ James cooed, within earshot of Severus.

Her friend immediately rose to his feet. “Is Potter giving you any  _ problems?” _

“I can handle myself… Just ignore him.” Lily stalked to the table he previously sat at, practically throwing her books down.

“Yes, just  _ ignore us,  _ Snivellus,” James purred.

Severus glowered at him. “I doubt she wants to spend  _ any  _ time with you.”

James scoffed. “What, and you’re better company?”

“For someone who spent the entire walk complaining about me, you certainly don’t know when to leave. Look, it’s  _ finally  _ your chance to be rid of me.” Lily was just going to ignore him. He’d give up on this. It always worked when Petunia was being bratty.

Severus, however, sprung for the bait she didn’t even know she set. “What was he saying about you?”

James glowered down at him. “The truth.”

“What were you  _ saying?”  _ Severus paused before smiling bitterly. “I notice that none of your  _ friends  _ followed you. Are you still so proud without your gang?”

“You say one word about any of them, and I’ll hex your bloody hand off.” 

Lily gave him a warning look, but Severus disregarded it immediately. “What? I’m sure they can defend themselves. Well, maybe not Lupin and Pettigrew. Your little  _ sycophants  _ certainly can’t cast spells to save their life. How did Lupin even make it into this school?”

James’s nostrils flared. “He’s smarter than any other first year, certainly better than you.”

“Severus! Remus didn’t do anything wrong. Stop,” Lily hissed. 

He gave her a cold look. “But he never does anything right, now does he? He just  _ lets  _ them go after you.”

James looked like he was teetering on the edge of storming off and punching Severus in the face. “Remus is a good person. Step off, right now.”

“Sure, fine.” Severus shrugged simply. “Not sure you can make the same argument about the rest of them, though. I guess what they say is true. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, and Sirius…  _ Wow.” _

James reared his fist back and slammed it into Severus’s face. “You don’t know him!” 

“James!” Lily shrieked instantly, fishing for her wand.

Severus only responded by tackling him down to the ground, tactics she  _ knows  _ he won by fighting the neighborhood bullies.

Lily got the feeling that James has been around the block as well, because both boys seemed relatively even, with Severus on the upper hand. A bit away, she caught sight of Flitwick, who heard the noise. Lily hesitated between trying to charm them apart or simply waiting for the teacher. She had a feeling, or maybe she had the foresight, not to be reckless. She would only make things worse.

Flitwick finally saw them and came charging towards the group, his small legs carrying him surprisingly fast. “What is the meaning of this?” 

“Nothing. Just…” Lily’s mind spun for lies. The other three James constantly hung around always could come up with these at the drop of a hat. Inventing a decent lie that would keep them  _ all  _ out of trouble, though… She wasn’t exactly smart enough for that. She cast a pointed gaze over at James. At the very least, if he got the ball rolling, she could keep it going.

James coughed and stood up. “We were practicing for Shakespeare. Professor Flitwick, do you know of the fight scene in  _ Romeo & Juliet?  _ In the first scene. Sn… Severus and I were just going over our… fight choreography.”

Really?

“They really wanted to get the Montague versus Capulet battle down. See… They were trying out insults on each other beforehand, if you heard the ruckus. Shakespeare left room for improversation there.” Lily offered her most dazzling smile before nodding slightly to herself. “And anyway, see, Romeo and Juliet weren’t mentioned to have magic. So we wanted to make sure it could pass as authentic.”

James shot her a genuine grin, then looked to Flitwick as confirmation.

Flitwick sighed. “Live theatre is so strange. Look, maybe next time the library isn’t the best place to rehearse?”

“We’re very sorry. It’s just…  _ James  _ needed help understanding Shakespeare, and it’s so much easier to comprehend when it’s spoken aloud. The spirit of the theatre just infected us… It won’t happen again,” she promised. And it wouldn’t because next time James tried to go in the same direction as her, she would hex him or  _ something. _

“Very well. Now, shoo! I’m holding a study session.” Flitwick waved them away.

They were only in the doorway of the library when Severus turned to James. “Thanks a lot. While  _ some  _ of us can handle not studying and getting poor grades, we were actually going to use our time.”

James shot him a death glare. “I literally couldn’t care less. Keep my friends’ names out of your mouth.”

“Well, I-”

“As excited as I am for failed fighting  _ part two,  _ we all know Romeo and Juliet was a tragedy, right? So let’s not have history repeat itself.” Lily huffed and pulled her books tighter against her chest. “I guess I’ll just go back to the tower since obviously, nothing  _ useful  _ will be done. Tell me when you cool off.”

James didn’t say anything then, just stared at her as she left.

Lily walked all the way back to Gryffindor Tower before she found someone she actually  _ wanted  _ to talk to. She quickly crossed the room and, not caring about the  _ other  _ boy there, sat next to Remus. “How do you lie so often to teachers? I just feel yucky.”

Remus sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I try to leave the lying to Peter and James. It does feel yucky, but I also don’t want to get bad grades. Why do you ask?”

“Nothing… Just bad influences, you know?” She smiled humorlessly to herself.

Remus laughed. “ I definitely know. Right Sirius?”

“Sorry, I don’t talk to people like her.” Sirius kept his gaze trained resolutely in his book, something Lily was  _ certain  _ he wasn’t reading. Her cheeks flooded with heat instantly, and she looked away quickly.

Remus elbowed him. “Hey. C’mon now. Anyways, Sirius could be called, hypothetically, a trouble maker.”

“I noticed,” Lily said. Sirius flipped her off. That was certainly not a friendship she’d bother making. When Lily looked away  _ again,  _ she ended up making eye contact with Marlene. Her friend offered a lopsided smirk and winked, focusing her gaze solely on Sirius… Not exactly subtle, but Marlene never knew subtlety.

Remus didn’t seem to understand the purpose of the stare.. “Hey Lily, do you want to study Charms later? My friends and I’ll be in the Common room around noon-thirty, and I could use some help with the memorization.” He made purposeful eye contact with Marlene. “You can bring friends or whatever, I don’t care.”

Sirius chose to look up at that moment, following Remus’ gaze. When he made eye contact with Marlene, the girl blushed bright red. It took a few seconds before Sirius winked, and Marlene winked back, and it was an uncomfortable exchange for Lily to watch. She glanced at Remus for help.

Remus cleared his throat obnoxiously. “Alright time for a snack break! C’mon Sirius!”

“Did you study at all?” Sirius gave him a pointed look. Then, purposefully, he stretched and strode over to Marlene.

Lily watched him for a few seconds. “Did I miss something? The mood changed, like,  _ abruptly.” _

Remus mouthed to Lily  _ Not What I Meant.  _

She nodded slightly even if she wasn’t quite sure what happened still. “So, I guess the study session is definitely on between Sirius and Marlene. I can go invite some of the other girls to come to make it less awkward. Besides, Severus needs some time to cool off. I get why he’s angry, but… He only does these  _ stupid  _ things when James is also there being stupid.”

Remus pinched his nose. “What did James do this time?”

“They got into a fight in the library. And rumor has it, James has just gotten in this habit of  _ punching  _ people.” Lily snorted. Of all fighting styles to get into, physical fights just seem nonsensical.

Remus gasped a bit. “He actually was punching and kicking and stuff?”

“Yeah… Why?” Lily narrowed her eyes. Everyone was talking about his fight with the Hufflepuff the other day, so why was this so surprising?

“I just… Feel like this all sort of came out of nowhere? I don’t know, did Snape deserve it?” 

She paused, mulling it over. “I… I don’t think either of them deserved it to  _ that  _ extent. But, James was… Mocking me, I guess. And Severus countered with mocking you guys. So, I guess it was just a matter of loyalty.”

Remus shook his head. “You’d think as wizards that physical fights would be below them.”

“I would think so,” Lily said finally before getting to her feet. “That study session is definitely on. Invite James if you want, but I’m sure it’ll be uncomfortable either way. I’m going to try and pull Marlene away from Sirius.”

Remus facepalmed. “Yeah… I thought she just wanted to be his friend… Ugh. I’ll see you around, Lily. Today, in fact.”

“She’s been mooning over him since school started. What’d you expect?” Lily shrugged somewhat helplessly. Then, she crossed the room and gently tugged Marlene away from the flirtatious game she’d taken up.

She saw Remus gag in the corner of her vision, ignoring the protests of Sirius.

“I have good news…” Lily said softly. “I think I just won you a weird sort of quadruple date.”

“I have never loved the idea of something more,” Marlene responded without skipping a beat, blowing a kiss to Sirius.

 


End file.
